Theory Of Transparency Research Articles

The Impact of Information Technology and Communication on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Health care organizations have substantially invested in Health Information Technology (HIT) as part of an effort to improve quality. However, many hospitals fail to generate positive returns on this significant investment, based on reimbursements for quality measures through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Given the high cost of lawsuits, we investigate if HIT adoption reduces lawsuits, and their attendant costs, as another consideration in HIT payoffs. We use operational transparency theory to develop hypotheses on the individual and joint impact of HIT and communication quality in influencing patients’ likelihood to file a lawsuit. We combine data on 168 hospitals in the state of Florida from 2007 to 2011 in order to investigate these relationships. Analysis using a fractional response model indicates that HIT has a direct impact in reducing the number of lawsuits, this effect being higher for hospitals with higher communication quality scores. These results remain consistent irrespective of the type of caregiver (physician vs nurse) communicating with the patient or the severity of injury resulting in the lawsuit. Our results also remain robust under different operationalization of key independent variables and alternate model specifications. These results provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that reduce lawsuits.

Effective Transparency and Institutional Trust in Honduran Municipal Governments

This article investigates trust in Honduran Municipal Governments and shows that transparency and municipal services quality impact on trust. We posit the Theory of Effective Transparency: relevant information should be reported; transparency should be based on unbiased information; and municipal data should be comparable with other municipal governments. Municipalities where one political party has an overall majority are trusted more, and audited financial statements generate a positive impact on trust. Engagement and participation also affect trust. As a practical implication, municipal governments should increase trust by involving citizens in municipal issues. Finally, quality of democracy is connected with greater trust.

BUDGETING INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN IN iFRAMES: CASE STUDY ON HEALTH SECTOR BLUD

<p><em>At the moment, budgeting processes carried out in Regional Public Service Agency in health sector in DKI Jakarta had been done manually so changes between corrective Work Plan and Budget (RKA)s and updated RKA cannot be seen directly. It causes ineffectiveness and bad transparency in the budget preparation process as unconfirmed RKAs are not well documented. The purpose of this study is to create a design of integrated accounting information system between budgeting information system as a part of Integrated Financial Reporting and Management Information System (iFRAMES). Transparency Theory is used to analyze the needs of budgeting transparency in government organization. The method used in budgeting system design is Framework for the Application of Systems Thinking (FAST) as the method in planning system design and the study approach used is a case study with triangulation method with qualitative data in the form of data from interview and quantitative data in the form of document review. The unit of analysis examined in this study is multiple-embedded units, between DKI Jakarta Health Office and BLUD. This study resulted in an integrated planning system design for BLUD to support planning activities so planning activities could be carried out with high transparency and efficiency.</em></p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong><em> Accounting Information System, BLUD, Budgeting System, FAST, Puskesmas, RKA, Theory of Transparency.</em>

Two Theories of Transparency

Perceptual experience is often said to be transparent; that is, when we have a perceptual experience we seem to be aware of properties of the objects around us, and never seem to be aware of properties of the experience itself. This is a (purported) introspective fact. It is also often said that we can infer a metaphysical fact from this introspective fact, e.g. a fact about the nature of perceptual experience. A transparency theory fills in the details for these two facts, and bridges the gap between them. We have three aims: to scrutinize Michael Tye’s transparency theory (Nous 36(1):137–151, 2002; Consciousness revisited: materialism without phenomenal concepts, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2009; Philos Stud 170(1):39–57, 2014a), introduce a new transparency theory, and advance a meta-theoretical hypothesis about the interest, and import, of transparency theories.

'Bullets of Truth': Julian Assange and the Politics of Transparency

This essay updates (to early 2019) earlier work on the WikiLeaks story in order to consider what more recent developments reveal about the theoretical promise that Assange articulated at the time of the website’s emergence. Assange has characterized secrecy as both a form and symptom of corruption, and ultimately as the foundation of a “conspiracy” of governance that states like the U.S. inflict on their subjects and the world. He advocates a non-political, vigilante form of transparency in which WikiLeaks serves as a neutral entity that will save the public and free the world with information. He predicted that corrupt political orders would fall as the threat of exposure forces the collapse of their conspiratorial communication networks. But WikiLeaks has failed not only to save the world but to save itself from politics — and in the process has itself become a bit player in the larger geo-political drama that it had hoped to disrupt. Assange’s theory of information disclosure, as well as his assumptions about the state and governing institutions, have proven far too descriptively and normatively simple. More prominent, less radical theories of transparency should take note of these failures to the extent that they share many of his assumptions.

Hot carriers generated by plasmons: where are they generated and where do they go from there?

A physically transparent unified theory of optically- and plasmon-induced hot carrier generation in metals is developed with all of the relevant mechanisms included. Analytical expressions that estimate the carrier generation rates and their locations, energies and directions of motion are obtained. Among the four mechanisms considered: interband absorption, phonon and defect assisted absorption, electron-electron scattering assisted absorption and surface-collision assisted absorption (Landau damping), it is the last one that generates hot carriers, which are most useful for practical applications in photodetection and photocatalysis.

Theories of truth based on four-valued infectious logics

AbstractInfectious logics are systems that have a truth-value that is assigned to a compound formula whenever it is assigned to one of its components. This paper studies four-valued infectious logics as the basis of transparent theories of truth. This take is motivated (i) as a way to treat different pathological sentences (like the Liar and the Truth-Teller) differently, namely, by allowing some of them to be truth-value gluts and some others to be truth-value gaps and (ii) as a way to treat the semantic pathology suffered by at least some of these sentences as infectious. This leads us to consider four distinct four-valued logics: one where truth-value gaps are infectious, but gluts are not; one where truth-value gluts are infectious, but gaps are not; and two logics where both gluts and gaps are infectious, in some sense. Additionally, we focus on the proof theory of these systems, by offering a discussion of two related topics. On the one hand, we prove some limitations regarding the possibility of providing standard Gentzen sequent calculi for these systems, by dualizing and extending some recent results for infectious logics. On the other hand, we provide sound and complete four-sided sequent calculi, arguing that the most important technical and philosophical features taken into account to usually prefer standard calculi are, indeed, enjoyed by the four-sided systems.

Transparency of a Geographically Distributed Test Platform for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Powertrain Systems Based on X-in-the-Loop Approach

X-in-the-loop is a new vehicle development and validation method for increasingly complex vehicle systems, which integrates the driver and the environment. In view of recent developments in fuel cell electric vehicle powertrain systems, Tongji University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have jointly developed a set of distributed test platforms based on the X-in-the-loop approach. This platform contains models and test equipment for a fuel cell electric vehicle powertrain system. Due to the involvement of remote connection and the Internet, test with connected test benches will suffer great uncertainty cause of signal transfer delay. To figure out this uncertainty, the concept of transparency is introduced. Four parameters were selected as transparency parameters in this distributed test platform. These include vehicle speed, fuel cell output power, battery output power, and electric motor torque under several different configuration settings. With the help of transparency theory and statistical methodology, especially Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the transparency of these four parameters was established, vehicle speed, electric motor torque, battery power, and fuel cell power are affected by network state, the degree of influence is enhanced in turn. Using new defined parametric and non-parametric methods, this paper identifies the statistical significance and the transparency limitations caused by Internet under these several configurations. These methods will generate inputs for developer setting the distributed test configuration. These results will contribute to optimize the process of geographically distributed validation and joint development.

Non-Markovian Effect in Optomechanical System

Most studies on optomechanical systems have been performed under the Markovian approximation. In this paper, we extend the study from the Markovian to the non-Markovian regime. According to the Markovian optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT) theory in Weis et al. (Science 330, 1520, 2010), we propose the non-Markovian counterpart. We find that the non-Markovianity might give rise to negative absorption, i.e., the probe field gains from the environment. By calculating the mean position of the mechanical resonator (MR), we illustrate the effect of non-Markovianity on the dynamics of the moving mirror.

Hearing the Unsaid: Musical Narration in The Journey of Flower and Nirvana in Fire

Diegetic distinctions are a crucial part of film/television scholars' vocabulary for discussing music's narrative functions. However, terms such as nondiegetic, extradiegetic, and intradiegetic music are defined and used inconsistently across the field, which limits the effectiveness with which narrative theory can be used to discuss musical narration. I address this issue in my article, even as my case studies in Chinese television music complicate ongoing debates about music's diegetic status: do we treat theme songs—performed by actors/actresses, often with lyrics rendered from their characters' perspectives and overlaying the dialogue—as nondiegetic, metadiegetic, extradiegetic, intradiegetic, or diegetic music? Using The Journey of Flower (2015) and Nirvana in Fire (2015) as my case studies, I explicate television music's narrative functions by mapping Lisa Zunshine's theory of transparency onto the study of sound diegesis. I define diegetic distinctions in relation to audiences' degrees of access to the story through its soundscape. My article focuses on Chinese television dramas' distinctive characteristic of homodiegetic musical narrations performed by the character-actor-singer, given the sophisticated ways by which they complicate our sense of narrative agency, elude spatiotemporal anchoring, and purposefully limit/ facilitate transparency. My analysis highlights the significance of Chinese television dramas as a rich resource for research being undertaken in media, cultural, and narrative studies. Given that China has one of the world's largest yet most under-researched television markets, my work bridges the scholarly gap in understanding how Chinese television dramas' sonic landscapes are crucially intertwined with their storytelling practices, by drawing attention to issues of diegetic ambiguity and story access.

Blocked and chained: Blockchain and the problems of transparency

ABSTRACTBlockchain is frequently claimed to be a democratizing technology. However, its relationship to both law and broader democratic institutions remains uncertain. One claim regarding blockchain's democratic potential is that it is radically transparent and can bring such transparency to existing systems of governance. This paper interrogates that claim in three different ways. Firstly, it examines blockchain technology against broader theories of transparency. Secondly, it examines the relationship between transparency and democracy, questioning how blockchain technologies could mediate that relationship. Finally, it examines how blockchain technologies could impact a particular exercise of transparency, freedom of information requests. This paper finds the relationship of transparency itself to democratic ideals is complex, contested and highly context‐dependent; the “democratizing” technological transparency built into blockchains could easily prove undemocratic in application. Blockchain technology cannot meet broader transparency goals without addressing political gatekeepers and the legal, social, and cultural needs that animate those goals.

A model of transparency: determinants and implications of transparency for national sport organizations

ABSTRACTResearch question: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theory of transparency by empirically developing a model of transparency of National Sport Organizations (NSOs). Three objectives aided the development of the model. The first objective was to examine structural determinants of transparency. The second objective was to identify further determinants and possible implications of transparency. The third objective was to statistically verify the identified implications of transparency.Research methods: A mixed research method in equal status concurrent design (qualitative and quantitative) was employed. The data were collected in three phases; a website analysis of 67 Czech NSOs, follow-up interviews, and a survey.Results and findings: A model of transparency was empirically developed based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis. The only positive structural determinant of transparency was membership, while other structural determinants had negative or no effect. Attitudinal and knowledge-based determinants were the main barriers of transparency. A positive effect of transparency regarding the collection of membership fees was confirmed. A new type of quasi-transparent organization was identified as a prevailing type of organization.Implications: The model contributed to the development of the concept of transparency in three ways. First, it revealed a tangible effect of transparency on the collection of membership fees. Second, it identified new barriers to transparency; attitudinal and knowledge-based. And third, the phenomenon of a quasi-transparent organization points at possible discrepancies between a self-perception of being transparent and behaviors that are non-transparent. Practical implications and future research directions based on the results are provided.

Vector soliton of self-induced transparency of a generalized love wave

A theory of acoustic self-induced transparency of a two-component vector soliton for a generalized Love wave is constructed. The three-layer system contains a resonance transition layer with paramagnetic impurity atoms or quantum dots. It is shown that, under these conditions, a vector soliton of the generalized Love wave can be formed. It oscillates at the sum and difference frequencies in the vicinity of the carrier wave frequency. Explicit analytical expressions for the parameters of a nonlinear surface acoustic wave are presented. The parameters depend on the elastic properties of the contacting media, the resonance transition layer, and the transverse structure of the wave. Numerical calculations are carried out for the three-layer Al2O3/ZnO/SiO2 system. The significant difference between the two-component vector soliton and singlecomponent soliton is shown.

Dynamics of Implementation and Maintenance of Organizational Health Interventions.

In this study, we present case studies to explore the dynamics of implementation and maintenance of health interventions. We analyze how specific interventions are built and eroded, how the building and erosion mechanisms are interconnected, and why we can see significantly different erosion rates across otherwise similar organizations. We use multiple comparative obesity prevention case studies to provide empirical information on the mechanisms of interest, and use qualitative systems modeling to integrate our evolving understanding into an internally consistent and transparent theory of the phenomenon. Our preliminary results identify reinforcing feedback mechanisms, including design of organizational processes, motivation of stakeholders, and communication among stakeholders, which influence implementation and maintenance of intervention components. Over time, these feedback mechanisms may drive a wedge between otherwise similar organizations, leading to distinct configurations of implementation and maintenance processes.

Semiclassics for matrix Hamiltonians: The Gutzwiller trace formula with applications to graphene-type systems

We present a tractable and physically transparent semiclassical theory of matrix-valued Hamiltonians, i.e., those that describe quantum systems with internal degrees of freedoms, based on a generalization of the Gutzwiller trace formula for a $n\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n$ dimensional Hamiltonian $H(\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{\mathbf{p}},\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{\mathbf{q}})$. The classical dynamics is governed by $n$ Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equations that act in a phase space endowed with a classical Berry curvature encoding anholonomy in the parallel transport of the eigenvectors of $H(\mathbf{p},\mathbf{q})$; these vectors describe the internal structure of the semiclassical particles. At the $\mathcal{O}({\ensuremath{\hbar}}^{1})$ level and for nondegenerate HJ systems, this curvature results in an additional semiclassical phase composed of (i) a Berry phase and (ii) a dynamical phase resulting from the classical particles ``moving through the Berry curvature''. We show that the dynamical part of this semiclassical phase will, generally, be zero only for the case in which the Berry phase is topological (i.e., depends only on the winding number). We illustrate the method by calculating the Landau spectrum for monolayer graphene, the four-band model of AB bilayer graphene, and for a more complicated matrix Hamiltonian describing the silicene band structure. Finally, we apply our method to an inhomogeneous system consisting of a strain engineered one-dimensional moir\'e in bilayer graphene, finding localized states near the Dirac point that arise from electron trapping in a semiclassical moir\'e potential. The semiclassical density of states of these localized states we show to be in perfect agreement with an exact quantum mechanical calculation of the density of states.

Introduction to Special Theme Veillance and transparency: A critical examination of mutual watching in the post-Snowden, Big Data era

Introducing the Special Theme on Veillance and Transparency: A Critical Examination of Mutual Watching in the Post-Snowden, Big Data Era, this article presents a series of provocations and practices on veillance and transparency in the context of Big Data in a post-Snowden period. In introducing the theoretical and empirical research papers, artistic, activist and educational provocations and commentaries in this Special Theme, it highlights three central debates. Firstly, concerning theory/practice, it queries how useful theories of veillance and transparency are in explaining mutual watching in the post-Snowden, Big Data era. Secondly, it presents a range of questions concerning norms, ethics, regulation, resistance and social change around veillance and transparency. Thirdly, it interrogates the upsurge in veillance and transparency discourses and practices post-Snowden, and asks whether they are adequate to the task of educating and engaging people on abstract and secretive surveillance practices, as well as on the possibilities and pitfalls of sousveillance.

Informing Healthcare Waiting Area Design Using Transparency Attributes: A Comparative Preference Study

This study aimed to explore people's visual preference for waiting areas in general hospital environments designed with transparency attributes that fully integrate nature. Waiting can be a tedious and frustrating experience among people seeking healthcare treatments and negatively affect their perception of the quality of care. Positive distractions and supportive designs have gained increasing attraction to improve people's waiting experience. Nature, which has shown therapeutic effects according to a growing amount of evidence, could be a distinguished positive distraction in waiting areas. Additionally, the theory of transparency was operationalized to indicate a spatial continuity between the external nature and the built interiors in general healthcare waiting area design. A survey method was adopted in the study. Twenty-one images of general healthcare waiting areas depicting three design typologies were preselected following a strict procedure, including designs with (a) no window views, (b) limited window views to nature, and (c) transparent spaces with maximum natural views. Ninety-five student participants rated the images based on their visual preference using a Likert-type scale. The results showed that transparent waiting areas were significantly preferred. A significant positive relationship existed between the level of transparency and people's preference scores. The factor analysis indicated additional supportive features that may affect people's preferences, including daylight, perceived warmth, noninstitutional furniture arrangement, visual orientation, and the use of natural materials for interior design. However, these tentative results need to be furthered tested with the real patient population as the next step of this study.

Transparency in Reporting on Charities’ Efficiency

In recent difficult economic times, the efficiency with which a charity spends the funds entrusted to it has become an increasingly important aspect of charitable performance. Transparency on efficiency, including the reporting of relevant measures and information to understand, contextualize, and evaluate such measures, is suggested as important to a range of stakeholders. However, using a novel framework for the analysis of efficiency reporting in the context of transparency and stakeholder theory, this research provides evidence that reporting on efficiency in U.K. charities lacks transparency, both in terms of the extent and manner of disclosure. It is argued that efficiency reporting in U.K. charities is more concerned with legitimizing these organizations rather than providing ethically driven accounts of their efficiency.

Exploring transparency: a new framework for responsible business management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review the relevant literature on transparency, provide a comprehensive definition of transparency, and present a new framework for facilitating the adoption of transparency as an ethical cornerstone and pragmatic strategy for organizational responsible business management. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review – a methodology adopted from medical sciences to eliminate research bias – was conducted. In doing so, the definitions, antecedents, and consequences of transparency are accessed and synthesized. Findings – Based upon this process transparency is defined as the extent to which a stakeholder perceives an organization provides learning opportunities about itself. A conceptual framework emerged from the data. It describes when transparency is especially important, what organizations can do to be more transparent, and the potential benefits of transparency. Practical implications – The transparency framework can be used as a guide for organizations attempting to change their behavior, image, and performance by adopting transparency as a value in their organization. In addition, the framework can be used to create and adopt a universal (i.e. industry-wide or even societal-wide) code of conduct. Furthermore, this review, definition, and framework provide a template for academics to advance transparency theory, and empirically test the construct’s application. Originality/value – As a new research field, transparency has lacked a concise definition as well as a conceptual framework. This is the first comprehensive summary of transparency. In addition, this study contributes to the methodology of evaluating construct definitions to advance empirical research.

Tunable multimode plasmon-induced transparency with graphene side-coupled resonators

We investigate a plasmonic graphene waveguide system based on monolayer graphene and two side-coupled graphene rings. The system exhibits multimode plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) effects in the mid-IR region. The dark-bright coupling mechanisms and coupled-resonator-induced transparency (CRIT) theory are both utilized to explain the electromagnetic responses, and the explanation is verified by simulation results of the finite-element method (FEM). By varying the Fermi level of graphene or the coupling gap, we have a means to dynamically manipulate the PIT system.